Poker Player Alliance Lobbys Fed. Government

The Poker Player Alliance says that they represent 800,000 poker players nationwide and spent over $900,000 in 2007 to lobby the federal government about online gambling legislation. 

The group is lobbying a bill that would make poker exempt from the law that restricts online gambling.

Also in the works is new legislation that would regulate the online gaming industry according to a disclosure form that was posted by the Senate's public records office.  The Poker Players Alliance spent $780,000 lobbying on those issues alone during the second half of 2007.

While it's legal to play poker online in most cases, the law has made it illegal for domestic banks and credit card companies to process payment for online gambling businesses. 

The law came in effect in 2006 and bars all financial institutions from handling all gambling transactions except for horse racing, fantasy sports and lotteries